1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing device, such as a copier or a printer, to an electronic document management system which manages electronic documents to be printed by such a printing device, and to a program.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a technique is attracting attention in which a user is allowed to send data, such as characters or figures recorded on a special paper with minute dots printed thereon, to a personal computer or a mobile phone, such that data can be preserved or be sent by mail. With this technique, small dots are printed on the special paper, for example, at intervals of about 0.3 mm, such that different patterns can be drawn, for example, for each grid having a predetermined size. Accordingly, it is possible to specify addresses for data, such as characters recorded on the special paper by reading the patterns, for example, using a special ball-point pen equipped with a digital camera. As a result, handwritten characters recorded on the paper can be used as electronic information.
As a technique according to the related art, a technique has been known in which added information is correlated with information before writing on a medium in real time without using a tablet, by detecting coordinates of a written trajectory on the medium, for example, by decoding a code symbol indicating a coordinate on the medium and by detecting a position of a point on the medium using the position, direction, and distortion of the code symbol, or the like (for example, see JP-A-2000-293303).
In addition, a technique has been known in which a two-dimensional code pattern to be printed together with documents on demand using a typical general-purpose printer is provided (for example, see JP-A-2004-94907). In JP-A-2004-94907, since the two-dimensional code has identification information for identifying a document page, information added by hand in a printed document can be reflected in an original document.
In the technique disclosed in JP-A-2000-293303, coordinate information is provided on a paper on which document information is printed and is read, and an original document is correlated with the coordinate information. Thus, since the coordinate information needs to be recorded on the paper in advance, a special paper is needed. In addition, in order to correlate the original document with the coordinate information, a device for reading two-dimensional codes at the time of printing needs to be separately provided. Otherwise, it is not possible to manage the relation between documents and printing.
Also, in the technique disclosed in JP-A-2004-94907, when a document is printed, a two-dimensional code is also printed using a typical printing device without preparing a paper with the two-dimensional code printed thereon. The two-dimensional code is generated as a two-dimensional code pattern for the page of the document to be printed by receiving a document page ID for each page with reference to a document management database. However, in JP-A-2004-94907, the management is performed by correlating the document surface ID for each page of the printed document with the page of the printed document. Thus, when plural copies of the same document are printed, the copies have the same document surface ID. Accordingly, it is not possible to manage the copies individually.
Also, the position information of JP-A-2004-94907 is assigned among position information collectively managed in advance, instead of being generated at the time of printing. Thus, there is a strict limitation on position information to be selected.
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances and provides a printing device that is capable of printing different medium specification information for each medium, even when plural copies of a document image of the same electronic document are printed.